Resources and mechanisms of the post-war reconstruction of West Germany (1945–1962)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the definition of the most effective resources and mechanisms of the post-war reconstruction of Germany (1945–1962). The study was carried out on the basis of a comparison of the effectiveness and role of the management measures of the occupation authorities, the mechanisms of the Marshall Plan and the economic reforms of the German government in the restoration and further economic rise of Germany. This question is considered in the context of the study of the mutual influence of antagonistic economic doctrines (planning-directive and neoliberal) and a comparative analysis of the doctrinal approaches of the occupation authorities and the national government, which determined the configuration of their interaction and the leading mechanisms of post-war reconstruction in Germany. The article shows that despite large-scale American financial and organizational assistance within the Marshall Plan, the framework conditions for successful transformations were laid by the effective policy of the German government, which was directed at ensuring national interests and realizing the competitive advantages of national production. It was determined that the institutional basis of the economic reforms of the German government of K. Adenauer was the liberalization of the economy and the development of the model of the social market economy, the initiator of the implementation of which was the Minister of National Economy, and later the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany L. Erhard. One of the basic components of economic liberalization reforms was the large-scale deregulation of business, which provided for the removal of most blocking regulations and the creation of stimulating norms for the development of private entrepreneurship, in particular, the liberalization of tax and credit instruments. The strategic direction of the government's reform policy was determined to be the modernization of the national economy, which included support for the development of strategically important industries and renewal of industrial production. The effectiveness of economic reforms was ensured by a clearly defined vision of building a national model of the social market economy, doctrinal stability and political consistency of the government's course.